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Renowned Serbian movie director shrugs off ‘sanction’ threats over visit to Crimea

Serbian filmmaker and musician Emir Kusturica says neither Western nor Ukrainian threats of sanctions against him for his second visit to Crimea will frighten off him in any way

Emir Kusturica Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Emir Kusturica

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

SIMFEROPOL, August 21. /TASS/. Serbian filmmaker and musician Emir Kusturica says neither Western nor Ukrainian threats of sanctions against him for his second visit to Crimea, where he will perform together with The No Smoking Orchestra on August 22, will frighten off him in any way.

"I always do what I think is right," Kusturica told TASS when asked whether he was afraid of being sanctioned.

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The filmmaker pointed out that he had come to play a gig in Crimea because in July 2017, "the public gave us a very warm welcome." "We have released a new album and put on a new show, we have things that will surprise the public, so why not do it again?" Kusturica mused.

The concert organizers said that in Crimea’s Yalta, Kusturica would put on a show to promote the band’s new album called Corps Diplomatique, which had been released in March. "We will perform Comandante, Cerveza and many other songs. The Black Cat, White Cat movie has turned 20 recently so songs from it will definitely be included in the album’s list," the musician added.

He did not rule out actualizing one of his projects in Crimea in the future.

"I am currently working on a big project, writing a book based on Dostoevsky’s novels, it is somewhere close to his Idiot and Crime and Punishment. I plan to complete it by September and then a screenplay will be written based on the book and a movie will be shot in China and France," Kusturica said when asked if he planned to shoot movies in Crimea. "I intend to incorporate Dostoevsky’s ideas into China’s present-day reality. After this project is over, everything is possible," he said.

Emir Kusturica has participated in more than 30 pictures as an actor, scriptwriter and film director. His movies include Time of the Gypsies (1988), Arizona Dream (1993), Underground (1995), Black Cat, White Cat (1998), Life Is a Miracle (2004) and On the Milky Road (2016). He has won numerous awards throughout his career at top European film festivals, and in particular, he won two Palme d'Or awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

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